Volume 7, number 14, Spring 2007
Trying Times for Literacy
“These are trying times for literacy in Canada”, says Barbara Byers, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Executive Vice-President. “The literacy community and adult learners across Canada are still reeling from the cuts to federal literacy funding announced last September. Along with the cancellation of the Labour Market Partnership Agreements with the provinces that would have supported workplace training, the cuts don't make sense. The federal government bemoans skills shortages, but it has yet to make a national commitment to literacy as the foundation for learning.“
“A well-funded, co-ordinated Canada-wide system for adult learning
is an essential step to a more inclusive and prosperous society”.
Barbara Byers, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
Executive Vice-President
The research is clear: the recent International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey found that 42% of working age Canadian adults aged 16 to 65 do not have the literacy skills needed to succeed in today's society. This is the same figure as in 1994. “A well-funded, co-ordinated Canada-wide system for adult learning is an essential step to a more inclusive and prosperous society”, says Byers.
“If there is a silver lining, it's that the literacy community has become politicized in new ways in response to the cuts,” says Byers. “We'll have to stay vigilant. Together with the literacy community, labour will have to put pressure on the provinces to make sure some of the Labour Market Training Transfer dollars announced in the March 2007 federal budget go to quality workercentred learning.”
